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I do not understand why so many are against the suppose "dink and dunk" offense. To me there is nothing more exciting than watching anyone (especially him) catch a 15 or less pass then darting past and through want a be tacklers. Just to much fun to watch.

I know what you mean. I still remember the game I went to a few years ago. It was against Cleveland on a Thursday night ... a tight game getting late in the 4th quarter and Ben throws a 5-8 yard stop to AB. He put a move on the DB that I thought broke the guys ankles and took it 80 yards to the house. The DB wasn't just any DB. It was Joe Haden. That play sent the entire stadium home happy.

I know what you mean. I still remember the game I went to a few years ago. It was against Cleveland on a Thursday night ... a tight game getting late in the 4th quarter and Ben throws a 5-8 yard stop to AB. He put a move on the DB that I thought broke the guys ankles and took it 80 yards to the house. The DB wasn't just any DB. It was Joe Haden. That play sent the entire stadium home happy.

There is nothing wrong with the dink and dunk.

Nothing wrong with it....if it's moving the chains and putting points on the board, preferably in increments of 7 not 3. And it wasn't. Not for the 1st half of the season. This team still mostly scores when Ben drops backs and improvises. The majority of successful drives have elements of that, not just dinking and dunking. Going 3 and out all games sucks. That's what we getting with the 1st half of the season. And we were 0-4 and 2-6 because of it. Do SOME of the bubble screens work? Sure. Were they running too much of them, handcuffing what Ben is best at? Yup. Did they open it up more in the second half of the season, causing our offense to come to life? Yuppers.

Nothing wrong with it....if it's moving the chains and putting points on the board, preferably in increments of 7 not 3. And it wasn't. Not for the 1st half of the season. This team still mostly scores when Ben drops backs and improvises. The majority of successful drives have elements of that, not just dinking and dunking. Going 3 and out all games sucks. That's what we getting with the 1st half of the season. And we were 0-4 and 2-6 because of it. Do SOME of the bubble screens work? Sure. Were they running too much of them, handcuffing what Ben is best at? Yup. Did they open it up more in the second half of the season, causing our offense to come to life? Yuppers.

Strange that exactly the opposite happened in 2012...Ben is having an MVP type season in the first half, gets hurt on a play when he is improvising and rebels for the rest of the 8-8 season...

Last year, Ben and Haley found an equilibrium...here's hoping they can combine the first half of 2012 with the second half of 2013...along with stronger RBs and better OL play, it could be great...

Nothing wrong with it....if it's moving the chains and putting points on the board, preferably in increments of 7 not 3. And it wasn't. Not for the 1st half of the season. This team still mostly scores when Ben drops backs and improvises. The majority of successful drives have elements of that, not just dinking and dunking. Going 3 and out all games sucks. That's what we getting with the 1st half of the season. And we were 0-4 and 2-6 because of it. Do SOME of the bubble screens work? Sure. Were they running too much of them, handcuffing what Ben is best at? Yup. Did they open it up more in the second half of the season, causing our offense to come to life? Yuppers.

Its funny you say this but the Highlights of AB, do not show any of Ben creating his own play, pretty much looked like he hit AB on the route intended then AB did the rest. Oh except those few deep balls that were thrown and caught. I will have to watch it again, but by your own admission you put this together and I did not see Ben making any fantastic moves to get more time, he just released the ball on the timing of the route. Even he is learning to take what they give him.

In order to keep the safeties honest, you must take shots down the field. It just doesn't need to be your bread and butter. Ben liked those 15-25 yard hits and was always looking to that softer percentage throw. Early in his career he would try to thread the needle 20 yards down the field rather than take that 7 yard dump. It's about making better choices rather than "dink and dunk vs. a vertical O". I think much of what Haley was doing was about retraining Ben to realize you can move the ball without killing it down field every other play. And as Slappy pointed out, Ben was having a career year under this training until injury in 2012. But, to not allow Ben to be Ben is shooting ourselves in the foot. He needs to call the plays, he needs a fast paced O, he needs rhythm, and he needs to take those shots downfield. There is a balance of Ben taking what the O is giving him. When they sneak safeties in the box, he hits em deep. When they are playing cover 2 man, he is taking that short stuff and beating them up with the run game.

On first and second down, and on third downs with manageable distance, go ahead and dink/dunk, run the ball, throw bubble screens, take your occassional shot downfield to keep them honest, whatever. Efficient offense, healthy Ben, that's all fine with me.

However, on third and medium-to-long, when all of your chips are on the table, then let Ben be Ben. Hold the ball "too long," avoid pressure like Randall Cunningham in his own end zone, and just gunsling it, baby.

I do not understand why so many are against the suppose "dink and dunk" offense. To me there is nothing more exciting than watching anyone (especially him) catch a 15 or less pass then darting past and through want a be tacklers. Just to much fun to watch.

Totally agree. "Dinking and dunking" can effectively wear out a defense forcing them to be chasing guys. It can also be extremely frustrating for a defense.

Playing Fantasy Football does not qualify you to be the in the front office or on the coaching staff of the Pittsburgh Steelers. They are professionals and you are not!

Its funny you say this but the Highlights of AB, do not show any of Ben creating his own play, pretty much looked like he hit AB on the route intended then AB did the rest. Oh except those few deep balls that were thrown and caught. I will have to watch it again, but by your own admission you put this together and I did not see Ben making any fantastic moves to get more time, he just released the ball on the timing of the route. Even he is learning to take what they give him.

I did notice that, but, for whatever reason, when Ben extended plays last year, he usually hit other receivers much of the time. Cotchery and Sanders caught a lot of those.

The Pats philosophy for the last decade has been "take what the D gives you". That is why they have had so much success, because they can - and are willing to - do so many things to win on O. If the D crowds the line, they go deep. If they hang back they run, or they threw short passes to Welker/Edelman. For many years they have plugged several different players into their base system, and it has worked because the system puts them in position to succeed.

The Pats philosophy for the last decade has been "take what the D gives you". That is why they have had so much success, because they can - and are willing to - do so many things to win on O. If the D crowds the line, they go deep. If they hang back they run, or they threw short passes to Welker/Edelman. For many years they have plugged several different players into their base system, and it has worked because the system puts them in position to succeed.